On 2008-05-14 11:25, Mr. Pupu Pants wrote:A friend of ours used to animate for Disney in the '70s when the last of the nine old men were still there working (he ended up with a huge neon sign from a tiki bar that used to sit across the street from Disney Studios called the Pago Pago. It's now in his backyard--outside his own little tiki bar).

Can you possibly post a picture of that sign over in this thread? In fact, your friend and his sign are mentioned in that thread. And if you can get any info (or even better, pictures!) from your friend about the Pago Pago, that would be great too.

It's been awhile since PuPu has posted, I bet when he returns, it'll be with another astounding update on his wild basement... unless he has been bitten by a lethal viper or spider while clearing rainforest looking for that perfect piece of exotic wood for his project.

very cool projects- all insperational; can't wait to see more pics of the basement. don't have them here in fl, (mostly) but we do have the great outdoors- slowly working on my own escapist getaway in my backyard. it'll be a while before i get to most of the small details, but sites like yours keep me frothing; can't wait to see the mechanized tikis!! i have to repeat the others- more pics please!! welcome!!!!

Wow, a little bamboo on the wall and I can already tell this project is going to be amazing. Your approach is a little different than mine, seems like everything is pretty well planned. What a score with the restaurant discards, I gotta keep a closer eye on craigslist!!

Hi Guys, sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I've been working away in my basement and have some new pics to add. The newest portion is made up of alot of different sizes of burnished bamboo, matting and carved/burned/stained 2 x 4's and 2 x 6's. My little propane torch has been very busy.

The corner between the two styles of walls will be where one of the 'support' columns will be located that contain some of the 'talking tiki' carvings mentioned in an earlier post.

I started by building out the base moulding with two layers of 2 x 6 which were carved/burned/stained/polyed to create a wide foundation for the various sizes of bamboo that would sit on them. The 'moulding near the ceiling is made of 2 x 4's in the same fashion and double stacked for width like the bottom. I then nailed up firring strips on the lower part of the wall to have a solid base to nail on the burnished 1" bamboo.

I used Contact Cement to glue up the matting (and really babysat it while it dried to make sure there was no separation from the wall). It adhered perfectly. To keep the matting as square as possible when cutting, I marked the section and then applied gaffer's tape (cloth tape used in film/video production) -or you could use duct tape -- to both sides of the place to be cut. This also kept it from fraying and made it so much easier.

I divided the wall into sections with split 3-4" bamboo that I scorched to dark brown. I nailed on the 1" bamboo to the lower half of the wall to create the wainscotting. I then capped it with split and shaped bamboo (to join to the dark brown beams). I used smaller stuff (1/2") for trim and gap coverage.

On top of the uppermost carved moulding, I secured burnished 6" bamboo to look like load bearing bamboo ceiling joists that smaller bamboo crossbeams will 'tie' onto later.

Here are a couple pics of a portion of the stuff I have collected to decorate 'Hula Sue's'.

Next up is the booth area in the background of the 1st picture above. It will be a hut with the back wall curved and built as a large map that resembles the cover of the Don the Beachcomber menu.
I am having an absolute blast. Hope you guys are all having a great week,
John

Fantastic work! Great job on the joinery with the bamboo. The WWII military models are an interesting touch, don't know that I've seen anyone add Hawaii wartime memorabilia in the mix - but I think it will work.

Thanks very much TikiZen Yeah, the theme I'm trying to put together is of an 'old' Tiki bar that may have existed during WWII and still has remnants of those times as well. I've tried to collect some cool Hawaii-WWII memorabilia to include in decorating the room. It will also have a touch of Enchanted Tiki room thrown in for good measure.
The music I plan to play in there will be a mix of tradtional Hawaiian standards and 1940's band era. I just love that kind of vibe Relaxing and warm and a great place to hang out with family and friends.
Thanks again for the encouragement. Mahalo and Aloha!

It's not like there aren't enough kool tiki rooms to inspire my sorry butt, but I think I just found another one. Awesome work! I'm blown away. I'll be looking forward to your updates like a Tom Corbett serial! Keep 'em coming!

Crapola MrPPP...your building skills are totally awesome. Great blend of textures and very professional looking. I am like you in that I have a different theme going on in every room of my house. My house is new (only two years old) so thank goodness I do need to do any reconstruction...just decorate (well....and spend money). My master bedroom is Egyptian and just finishing up the master bath in a safari theme. I have a diner thing going on my kitchen too.

Thanks you guys. I really appreciate it. I hadn't heard anything since posting a couple weeks ago so I thought people were already bored with the post. I knew I should have added explosions or something.

Yikes, it's been a long time since I posted anything.
Here are some newer pictures of what I've been doing (sorry about the mess .

The booth in the back will be inside a hut and the wall will have a large relief map of Hawaii. The water will be painted with shades of sparkly blue paint and the Islands and icons will be chalkware.

Here's a very rough example of the relief map I made in Photodraw to give you an idea:

The bar will be located where the white outline is on the floor and the cutouts on the wall will be windows to a lighted background of Tunnels Beach (Kauai) with a foreground, forced perspective diorama:

The spot with the unfinished vertical board will be where one of the 'carved' support beams will be (containing the 'animatronic' singing Tiki faces mentioned earlier).

Haven't really gotten to the 'grand' entrance yet.

I'm trying to finish by November to host a party to celebrate the opening of my brother's movie (Madagascar 2). Tiki/jungle theme. I'll post again soon. Have a great weekend! Aloha and Mahalo my friends

Hoover Dam! You've certainly put a lot of work and thought into this, and it really shows. I can't wait to see it finished, it's going to be an awesome room. I'm particularly looking forward to seeing the completed booth area. I do like a nice booth!

Thanks very much Junglero, you made my day. I know I'm no Bamboo Ben but when you share stuff, you kinda hope people notice. You are the only feedback/reply I've had in over three months. I'll probably be posting more updated pics very soon (I've been busy working on it). Thanks again for the encouragement. I really appreciate it.
Aloha and Mahalo,
John